WASHINGTON – The White House has readied a plan to oust embattled Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and replace him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who has become one of the most personally loyal and politically savvy members of President Trump’s national security team, two administration officials confirmed Thursday.

The plan, hatched by White House chief of staff John F. Kelly, is expected to be set in motion over the next few weeks, and has broad support within Trump’s inner circle, the officials said. But it was unclear whether Trump had signed off on the plan yet, and the president has been known to change his mind about personnel and other matters before finalizing decisions with public announcements.

Under the plan, Pompeo would likely be replaced at the CIA by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., one of Trump’s most steadfast defenders and a confidant to some leading members of the foreign policy team, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the White House has not publicly announced the moves.

The New York Times was first to report on Thursday morning Kelly’s active plan for the personnel changes. White House spokesmen did not immediately comment.

Throughout the fall, Tillerson’s departure has been widely expected, given his rocky relationship with the president, and Pompeo has been speculated about as a top contender to succeed him at Foggy Bottom.

Chatter about Tillerson’s potential ouster reached a fever pitch in October, after NBC News reported that Tillerson had called Trump “a moron.” Though Tillerson had told friends he wanted to make it as secretary of state for a full year, and has insisted publicly that he had no plans to quit, rumours of his impending departure gained a nickname – Rexit.

The secretary of state has alienated both one-time allies at the White House and his underlings at the State Department with what many call a highhanded and tone-deaf manner. Tillerson’s main project, a downsizing and streamlining of the State Department bureaucracy, is still a work in progress but has drawn widespread criticism on Capitol Hill, from leading congressional Republicans as well as Democrats.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson answers a reporters question about North Korea at the State Department in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017.Cliff Owen/Associated Press

Tillerson accompanied Trump on part of his Asian trip earlier this month, and the pair gave no obvious sign of estrangement.

Tillerson has kept up a steady schedule of appearances, including a speech Tuesday at the Woodrow Wilson Center in which he said the United States and European allies recognize the “active threat of a recently resurgent Russia.”

Tillerson has stressed the importance of attempting dialogue and diplomacy with North Korea, even as Trump undercut him by saying the time for talk is over and that North Korea’s leadership only understands the threat of force. On Wednesday morning, Tillerson told reporters that a “long list” of additional sanctions could still be applied to attempt to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

“As a diplomat, we keep working on it every day,” Tillerson said of the non-military pressure campaign.

On Wednesday afternoon, Trump again belittled North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as “Little Rocket Man,” and a “sick puppy.”

Cotton, meanwhile, has emerged as perhaps the senator most closely aligned with the White House on national security issues.

Older and more senior Republican colleagues, including national security lions Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have been frequent critics of Trump policies and priorities.

Cotton was the central congressional figure in the White House plan, unveiled last month, to back away from the Iran nuclear deal and throw the question of U.S. participation in the international agreement to Congress.